


It Wasn't Me!

by JMount74



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen, Running Away, minor injury, wee tracy's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28870551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: It's not like it isn't the first time Gordon had accidentally hurt one of his brothers, but this time? When his dad doesn't believe him Gordon decides to find the one person who will make everything better.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 30





	It Wasn't Me!

‘I didn’t do it! It wasn't me!’ The outrage and hurt in the voice was unmissable, but Jeff Tracy’s heart was firm. It wouldn’t be the first time his second youngest had outright lied about a prank, even if it was unusual that a prank had hurt one his brothers bad enough that said brother was now in the hospital.

Eight-year-old Gordon stood defiantly in front of his father’s desk in the study. It was so unfair! He was not stupid enough to even consider a prank like that, having his father disbelieving him was…was…was horrid! As if having Scott in the hospital wasn’t bad enough, with his oldest brother out of action it meant that dad was working from home to (finally) look after his children, making said children on edge.

Jeff didn’t have time for the events of yesterday, or today. He’d had to cancel a really important meeting when he’d been torn from what little sleep he’d had by the screams of Alan. It was a very rare day that he was still home before Scott got up – not that Jeff knew that. Dazed and disorientated, Jeff had stumbled from his bed into Gordon and Alan’s room to find Gordon sitting up rubbing his eyes but no Alan.

No, Alan was standing at the top of the stairs screaming his five-year-old head off. Because at the bottom of the stairs was his beloved oldest brother Scott. Not moving. Unconscious. There was blood.

Jeff had nearly joined his oldest when he rushed forward – for some reason the top step was slippery – and then it had been battle stations. Call an ambulance, get the kids ready, call Ma. John had been invaluable in getting things together for Alan and Gordon while Virgil had got himself ready and some clothes for Scott. Alan had refused to leave Scott’s side once Jeff had checked Scott over (DR ABC – check), so Jeff had been able to get dressed while Virgil sat with him.

The ambulance had taken 15 minutes, and Jeff was sure he’d gone grey by the time it had arrived. Jeff had had to follow the ambulance as they couldn’t fit all the boys in, and that had torn him. John was not old enough to look after his brothers at home, so there was a scrabbling of who would go with Scott and who would go with Jeff. It wasn’t a difficult decision. Usually it would have been Virgil, as Scott’s closest brother, but Virgil had almost fallen asleep on his feet, kid really didn’t do mornings, so John went with Scott. Not that the ambulance men were happy to take a minor.

Several hours, scans and a few doctors later, Scott was declared to be in no danger, just as long as he woke up. A nasty gash on his head and six stitches, what would probably turn out to be a killer concussion and a fractured wrist, now in a sky-blue cast, Scott would be kept in until he woke up and proved there was nothing the matter with him. The hospital had then insisted they all leave. Jeff now had the unenvious task of corralling his kids home, getting food and sending them all to bed. Thank goodness his mom was due any minute now.

Sally had appeared bearing pizzas and drinks, knowing that her son wouldn’t have a clue. And by the delighted look of the boys she had chosen well. Jeff had kissed her cheek, snaffled a slice of pizza and disappeared into his office, mumbling about rearranging stuff. Sally, being the wise old bird that she was, had packed to be staying for a couple of weeks. She wasn’t sure what had been going on at the house, but her gut feeling that Scott was doing more than he should be judging from the odd phone calls she had received seemed to be accurate. That, and the state the place was in. She sighed, slightly exasperated at Jeff. Never mind, she was here now and would soon have everything sorted out.

It was Sally who got everyone up and ready in the morning for school, prompting moans from everyone – they all wanted to go see Scott. But no-one would dare argue with Grandma, so off to school they went. By the time school was over they were all chomping at the bit to see their big brother, so Sally duly bundled them all in to the car and off they went.

Scott, bless him, had woken some time during the night and had panicked when he didn’t recognise where he was. It didn’t take long for the nurse to calm him down – after all, it had been less than a year since he had last woken up in a hospital. He had then endured the most boring day ever, not helped by the fact he could barely stay awake. He was delighted to have visitors.

They stayed a couple of hours before Sally announced it was time to go home. At this Alan burst into tears, but the matriarch was unmoving. They needed food and rest and bed, and so did Scott. Scooping Alan up, she bestowed a kiss to Scott’s forehead and told him his father would be along later to see him. The look of scepticism on his face confirmed her feelings. What on earth had Jeff been doing for his eldest son to think he wouldn’t come and visit while in hospital? Things needed to be addressed.

Jeff had made it to the hospital with less than 10 minutes of visiting time to spare. Cursing that the meeting he’d needed to reschedule from yesterday had overran, his rushed entry startled Scott awake, resulting in him sitting up suddenly, then groaning and holding his head in his hands. Jeff instantly regretted his haste. He regretted even more the expression on Scott’s face when he finally took his hands away. His son looked…surprised to see him. The remaining few minutes were awkward and interrupted by the doctor. They wanted to keep Scott in for an extra day as a precaution, to which Scott protested greatly – even more than he did. But stay Scott would, if the doc wanted it then that’s what would happen.

It was later that evening he called Gordon into his study. His mom had taken a look at the step, and it seemed as if someone had used some kind of oil or polish on it. She’d scrubbed it with hot soapy water so it was back to normal. Jeff had to admit that it wasn’t Gordon’s usual style of prank, but no-one else would have done something so, so, stupid. 

Gordon’s protests of innocence were ignored. And Gordon knew he was only winding his father up, but he couldn’t help it! This really wasn’t his fault and being punished for that was just about the worse thing he could think off. But Jeff would only let his son rant about the unfairness of it all for so long. Slapping his hand down on the desk made Gordon jump and shut up. 

‘Enough. We are done talking any more about this. Scott’s having to spend a second night in the hospital, I’ve had to reschedule really important meetings, your Grandmother has had to come down to look after you!’  
‘But…’  
‘NO! No more ‘I didn’t do anything’. You are grounded for the next month. No tv, no games and no swimming.’

If it wasn’t bad enough being blamed for something he hadn’t done, being punished for it sucked hard. Gordon knew there was no arguing now, so he turned smartly and stormed out without slamming the door – because that would only prolong the punishment. That didn’t stop him stomping up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door, but Jeff had enough to contend with, already on the phone for his next meeting.

His brothers had heard the commotion but had wisely stayed out of the way. They spent a strange evening doing homework, playing a little and ultimately going to bed early. It was strange with Scott gone. It was even stranger with their father home. Grandma wasn’t letting them get away with anything though. Two hours after John and Virgil had headed up to bed she slipped into Jeff’s office. They needed to talk, preferably when the boys weren’t present, so now seemed as good a time as any.

Unknown to the two adults, Gordon had crept downstairs. Hearing his father and grandmother talking in the study, he had only one goal in mind. Only Scott would believe him. Only Scott could make it better. The hospital was the other side of town and he’d never been out on his own at night before, but the eight-year-old was a Tracy. This meant he was stubborn and determined. He’d take his bike and be there in no time at all. The back door wasn’t locked yet – although Scott locked the doors immediately they were home, the adults tended to leave it until they went to bed – and Gordon was off.

The discussion between Jeff and his mom got quite heated at one point, but Jeff had to concede that she was right. He had been relying on Scott too much and had not been around. The surprise on Scott’s face when he had showed at the hospital had told him that much. But they had come to a workable arrangement, one that Sally had suggested in the aftermath, but Jeff hadn’t wanted to consider at the time. Now – now he couldn’t understand why he had refused. 

Sally left her unhappy son in the study nursing a Scotch, while she checked on the others before retiring herself. She felt lighter than she had for months; and was pleased that Jeff was finally beginning to see sense. With any luck that would mean he was beginning to heal just a little too. Now they just needed Scott home and everything could settle into the new normal the family found themselves in.

She checked John first. He was not used to sleeping on his own. Jeff had wanted Scott, as oldest, to have his own room, but Virgil was a noisy sleeper that kept John awake, and Scott was more than happy to have his space-loving (and very quiet) brother share with him. But John was fast asleep – on Scott’s bed. Sally smiled fondly; her grandsons were so dependent of each other! Virgil was fast asleep, arms firmly around Alan. The youngest usually shared with Gordon, so Sally assumed they had not wanted to disturb the upset youngster.

Jeff had filled his mom in on what had happened, and for a moment she was quite perplexed. Yes, Gordon was a prankster that didn’t always understand where boundaries were, and he may deny he’d done something at first, but he always owned up pretty quickly if he had hurt someone. So for Gordon to be sticking to his guns was unusual. Still, Jeff’s punishment stood until her little squid was honest about everything. 

Entering Gordon and Alan’s room, she watched her grandson for a couple of seconds – and frowned. Something here was not right. She couldn’t hear him breathing! Rushing over and yanking the bedcovers off Sally got the shock of her life when ‘Gordon’ turned out to be a pile of clothes. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. What on earth was he thinking? Worry ramping up – nearly midnight was no time for an eight-year-old child to be out on the streets – Sally rushed back downstairs to the study.

Jeff was sitting at his desk, morosely staring at the picture of Lucy in his hand. He’d probably had a little too much to drink, an occurrence that was becoming a habit, but it was numbing the ache inside him. His mom’s sudden entrance startled him enough that he sloshed his drink over himself. Frowning, he looked up to see panic in her eyes.

‘Ma? What’s wrong?’  
‘Gordon’s gone.’

And with those two words all hell broke loose inside him. Not his miracle baby, his sunshine child! But Jeff remained frozen to the chair and Sally took charge. She called the police and explained the situation. No, they were not sure how long he had been missing. It had been nearly seven hours since anyone last saw him. Yes, there had been an argument at home. No, this was not normal behaviour for Gordon. A police car was being dispatched to them and the hunt began.

Gordon, totally oblivious to anything other than the need to get to Scott, was almost halfway across town before he came across any difficulty. He had kept to the pavements, and although there were people around, no-one had challenged him. Until now. There were a group of girls on the corner and a couple of boys with them. Instinctively Gordon knew they were trouble and crossed the road to avoid them. They shouted after him, which unnerved him even more, and he sped up. Unfortunately this resulted in him hitting a curb which blew his tire. Flinging the bike aside, he set out on foot.

Couple of times he saw police cars driving slowly around the streets, but he ducked and hid wherever he could, until eventually he arrived at the hospital. At night, in the dark, the building looked a little frightening. And the main entrance they had used before was locked. Gordon frowned. How was he supposed to get in? Wandering the grounds did not seem a good idea, but he had nothing else to do. Thankfully he went in the right direction because he saw ambulances and people and an entrance.

Waiting for a small group of people to enter so he could go in with them, Gordon congratulated himself on a job well done. He was pretty confident he could find the room once inside, and he was pleased to have got this far. He entered with a group of four people. The large room he found himself in was full of noise and people and suddenly Gordon felt small and scared again, particularly since he couldn’t find an exit door into the hospital.

Making himself as invisible as possible was a new experience for the usually loud and in-your-face child, but Gordon stuck to the fringes of larger groups in the room while looking for the way through…and there it was. Only staff were going through it, though, so he was going to have to time it well. Fortunately, he was very, very good at timing things, and not too long afterwards Gordon found himself walking through the maze of corridors looking for his brother.

While all this was happening, Jeff was becoming increasingly frantic because he couldn’t go look – he’d had too much to drink. The rest of his boys were up and in the kitchen helping his mom make coffee for the three police officers while Jeff stewed. There were three cars covering the town in a grid fashion so they shouldn’t miss anything. At that moment Virgil entered carrying a plate of (shop-bought) biscuits while Grandma carried the cups and John carried Alan, who was asleep and drooling down his top. 

They had all been racking their brains as to where the child could have gone, and the first place – the pool – had already been ruled out, as had the park and the aquarium. Sally took Alan off John and settled him on the couch while John and Virgil sat on the floor in front. Both were still only half awake, but it seemed fortuitous that when Virgil asked John, he managed to ask in the only quiet pause the room had had since the police had arrived.

‘Has anyone checked to see if he’s with Scott?’

It was a lightbulb moment for everyone, and the police officers were immediately speaking to others. Sally and Jeff exchanged glances, it felt like things may finally be going their way. 

Gordon had an uncanny sense of direction. He needed it for his swimming, to know when to turn, and he found it useful now. Although he had come in a completely different entrance he had managed to find Scott without getting lost, taking just one side turn to avoid a nurse. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

‘Gordon? What are you doing here?’ said his big brother, sight puzzlement in his voice. But Gordon found that now he was here and Scott was awake, his voice had gone. Instead, he ran across the room and hurled himself onto the bed and promptly burst into tears. Sight puzzlement turned into full-blown worry, but Scott knew he wouldn’t get anything out of his little brother until he cried himself out. So he lay there, holding Gordon in a tight hug and let him cry.

Gordon didn’t take too long to get things back under control. With tears still flowing, he tried explaining what was going on at home, but he wasn’t really coherent. Thankfully, Scott had a lifetime’s practice at cry-speak. ‘So let me get this right, Dad accused you of the prank that caused me to fall down the stairs and punished you, so you ran away to me?’ Well, when Scott put it like that it sounded bad. He didn’t mean to run away. ‘You know Grandma and Dad are going to freak when they realise you’re gone, don’t you?’ Gordon looked down, finding his buttons suddenly very interesting indeed. Scott sighed. His head could do without this, but so be it.

Gently lifting Gordon’s head to look in his eyes, Scott smiled. It was warm and full of love and Gordon threw his arms around his brother as a fresh wave of tears threatened. ‘I believe you, Gordon. You wouldn’t be so silly as to make a step slippery.’ That was what he needed to hear, and he broke down again. Wiggling down the bed and taking Gordon with him Scott held him tightly as the boy cried himself to sleep. It didn’t take long. Scott pressed the call button. A nurse answered and got the surprise of her life, finding two children in the bed. But she could see the tear tracks on the youngest, so came over while Scott quietly explained what had happened.

Jeff leapt up as the phone rang, almost dropping it in his eagerness. He listened to the woman on the other end, and finally a smile broke out on his face. Thanking her profusely, he hung up and turned to the room. ‘Jeff?’ Sally asked. Jeff nodded. ‘He’s at the hospital with Scott.’ Cheers broke out, and Jeff strode across to Virgil and ruffled his hair. ‘How did you guess, Virg?’ Delighted with the attention from his father, Virgil grinned. ‘He would go to Scott because Scott would make it better.’ The words brought bitterness to Jeff, but he knew it was his own fault. Time to make amends would come very soon, but first he needed to sort out Gordon.

The hospital was not pleased with the unauthorised addition, but due to the timings they agreed that Gordon could stay the rest of the night as long as there was an adult there first thing to pick him up. Scott was relieved at that, and before long the two brothers were fast asleep. Sally helped Alan to bed while Jeff finished up with the police officers and John and Virgil tidied the cups and plates away.

Once everything had settled down, Sally began to usher John and Virgil to bed when Jeff stopped her. ‘Boys, I have to ask you something before you go to bed.’ Sharing a glance, both nodded and waited. ‘Do you know how Scott fell down the stairs?’ Both shook their heads. ‘He slipped on the top step because somehow it was polished.’ Immediately both John and Virgil looked guilty. ‘What happened?’

‘I, er, I spilt some paint on the top step and asked John how to clean it up,’ said Virgil. ‘And I looked it up and it said to soak it in oil and the paint will clean off.’ John’s face was bright red as the implications of what had happened suddenly became clear. ‘Oh no, it was my fault!’ he whispered. Before the recriminations could start – they were Tracy’s after all, and the ‘it’s all my fault’ gene ran deep – Jeff had crossed the room and pulled both boys into a hug.

‘It’s no-one’s fault, boys. It’s just one of those unfortunate occurrences that happens to us. Off you go to bed and we’ll say no more about it. You can talk to Scott about it when he gets home if you want, but you don’t have to.’ Nodding, both boys made their way to bed, while Sally stayed behind.

Jeff sighed deeply. ‘I owe Gordon such an apology. He tried to tell me it wasn’t him, but I didn’t believe him.’ Sally crossed the room and helped Jeff off the couch. ‘Gordon will be fine with a simple “sorry”, he knows that his pranking nature will occasionally get him into trouble that is not his doing. Come to bed, Jeff. We’ve an early start if we are to pick Gordon up before school.’ Jeff nodded. His mom was a wise old bird.

Deciding that Gordon deserved the day off school after such a terrible night, Jeff was determined that today was the day he made a fresh start with all his children. Sally took John, Virgil and Alan to their respective schools while Jeff went straight to the hospital. Entering Scott’s room, he quietly watched as Gordon and Scott, oblivious to his presence, were reading something – it looked like Scott’s notes. He cleared his throat and almost chuckled as two heads shot up simultaneously.

Gordon looked wary, but Jeff held his arms open and without another word Gordon shot off the bed and ran into them, and one of the best hugs he’d had in a while. Jeff held him tightly, as Scott looked on with a small smile on his face. Eventually pulling away and holding Gordon at arm’s length, Jeff knelt down and wiped a tear from Gordon’s eye.

‘I am so sorry I did not believe you, son. I am so sorry.’ Gordon hiccupped a reply, tears flowing. ‘Just promise me you won’t ever run away again. I was so worried.’ He nodded, and Jeff pulled him back into a hug. Glancing up at Scott, he said, ‘you ready to get going?’ Scott’s smile became a wide grin, all the confirmation he needed. Jeff had already sorted out the paperwork, and half an hour later they were getting into the car.

‘Where would you like to go, boys?’ And Jeff laughed when both boys stared at him open-mouthed. ‘Don’t you have a meeting to go to?’ queried Scott. ‘Nope. I cancelled everything so I could spend the day with you two.’ Scott couldn’t believe it. But he hoped it was a sign of changes to come. ‘So, Squid. What do you want to do?’

‘Aquarium!’ came the totally expected reply. If Gordon was getting a day with his dad and his big brother, he was going to make the most of it!


End file.
